Living in the crosshairs of COVID-19

It’s not a particularly pleasant prospect to die from COVID-19 – but John Power will soon face State and Commonwealth decisions that may cost him his life.

Batch testing and contact tracing can stop the lockdown yo-yo

Yo-yoing lockdowns are costly and to be avoided if at all possible. Here is what we can do to dramatically improve testing and tracing.

Better ways to manage quarantine

“He shall be unclean as long as the disease is on him. Being unclean, he shall dwell apart; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” – The Book of Leviticus 13-14

Designing better quarantine

It’s easy to judge people who escape from quarantine as not doing their bit. But if we use some basic principles from behavioural science, we might stop people wanting to escape in the first place.

Assuaging religious fears over COVID vaccines

Church leaders have raised concerns over a COVID-19 vaccine produced using cells derived from aborted foetuses. But the Vatican has already ruled such vaccines ‘morally separate’ from the abortions.

The difficult road to a COVID vaccine

Real leadership will be needed to help bring Covid-19 under control in the countries where it is still running rampant and, if and when a vaccine is developed, leadership will also be needed to ensure it gets to those who need it most.

Was Sweden right to eschew COVID lockdowns?

A full accounting of how Sweden’s non-lockdown approach to COVID-19 has fared compared to other country’s will take time, and will involve trading off health, economic, educational and other outcomes.

Why Melbourne’s business restrictions should work

By clamping down on personal interactions, the sweeping new business restrictions in Melbourne should reduce the number of community infections to more manageable numbers within the next few weeks.

Victoria’s ‘state of disaster’

Premier Dan Andrews declared a state of disaster from 6pm on Sunday in Victoria, imposing a nightly curfew on Melbourne and giving the government and police extra powers to enforce the new restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The COVID crisis in aged care shows elimination is the only strategy

The evidence is in and the answer is clear. We must try and eliminate COVID-19 for the health and economic benefit of Australians of all ages.

Victoria’s privatised quarantine arrangements were destined to fail

Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19 cases can be traced back to poor security at quarantine hotels. Economics tells us that governments privatising services where quality counts is a bad idea.

Obesity remains a risk for COVID-19

The risk of more severe symptoms from COVID-19 and the likelihood of death is higher in people who are obese, regardless of their age, according to a study to be published in the European Journal of Endocrinology.